Our weekly meetings took place at Bibliothèque DIRA, Montréal/Tiohtià:ke’s anarchist library, and we thank them for their openness to hosting our group. We also recognize that the DIRA, as is the whole city of Montreal, is located on unceded land. We recognize the historical communities of, and the forcible removal of those peoples from the lands on which we live.
The Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg peoples have long ties to what is now the Island of Montréal. Kawenote Teiontiakon is a documented Kanien’kéha name for the Island of Montreal. The City of Montréal is known as Tiohtià:ke in Kanien’kéha, and Mooniyang in Anishinaabemowin.
Additionally, we recognize that the online space that hosts this project is not a rootless ether, but rather relies on servers and media infrastructure all around the world, on lands with their own rich histories rife with injustice and harm, but also meeting and creation. We acknowledge that this online space relies on energies and materials extracted from the earth, often against the wills and interests of those who live on the land.
Anti-colonial practice neither starts nor ends with the acknowledgment of territory. We encourage readers to research the historical communities of the land on which they live, but also to support land defense movements in their areas, and to think about the cultivation of personal and collective relationships to land as part of their practice.